They've done it semi regularly since the 1980s. BMW in particular get excited every now and again and produce some over priced, under specced dud with a BMW M-power sticker on it and watch the drooling idiots struggling to make the payments on a 318i buy one to hang on the shed and gather dust.

You can buy a Ferrari MTB at cell right now.

It's one of the truisms of cycling though - if a car maker puts out a line of bicycles, they will suck. Yes, that includes Peugeot

So we get the leaders we deserve and we elect, we get the companies and the products that we ask for, right? And we have to ask for different things. – Paul Gildingbut really, that's rubbish. We get none of it because the choices are illusory.

"Cyclingâ€™s innovations, including spokes, pneumatic tyres, ball bearings, steel tubing and differential gears, were soon borrowed by the motor industry. Many automobile pioneers were former bike mechanics, Henry Ford and William Hillman among them, and bicycle companies that converted to car manufacturing include Bianchi, Peugeot, Opel, Morris, Rover and Humber. The bicycle, Mr Penn writes, was also the forerunner of long- distance travel. In 1892 two brothers opened a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio and soon turned their minds to how a flying machine might work. In 1903 the â€œWright Flyerâ€, with bicycle-derived sprockets and chains driving its propellers, became the worldâ€™s first powered aircraft."

The bikes being pedaled by Mini Cooper Motors are a much more serious effort than most other motoring forays into the bike market.They are already in the showrooms here (brisbane) and they are very nice bikes, in the retro groove.They use Reynolds 520 or 531 frames.Obviously this is more a marketing exercise than a serious push into the bike market, but I for one would not say no to one of these little beauties in my garage.http://www.cooperbikes.com/T200-singlespeedracingbike.html

"Technology gives us much more information but Education is never be able to give us the skill to evaluate it"

elantra wrote:The bikes being pedaled by Mini Cooper Motors are a much more serious effort than most other motoring forays into the bike market.They are already in the showrooms here (brisbane) and they are very nice bikes, in the retro groove.They use Reynolds 520 or 531 frames.Obviously this is more a marketing exercise than a serious push into the bike market, but I for one would not say no to one of these little beauties in my garage.http://www.cooperbikes.com/T200-singlespeedracingbike.html

I don't know about expensive car markers being a good thing, since they are really after the high flyers with more money than sense.

However, I do welcome the shift that car manufacturers could make from vehicles to/back to bikes. A bicycle version of the Toyota Camry would be good; good value, well built, no frills, inexpensive to own and maintain and also efficient. Normalising cycling is the best thing for everyone.

I'm glad that Fiat don't make a bike.... It would have some great performance components on it but the frame would disappear in a cloud of iron oxide overnight.... Oh!, and it would leak oil from places where it is not possible to leak regardless of how many times you fix it...

weemac wrote:I'm glad that Fiat don't make a bike.... It would have some great performance components on it but the frame would disappear in a cloud of iron oxide overnight.... Oh!, and it would leak oil from places where it is not possible to leak regardless of how many times you fix it...

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